The challenge provides a $30,000 incentive to develop the winning business that achieves public goals while developing jobs.
The challenge has been growing, with more entrepreneurs pitching ideas each year. Even so, there is always room for a new idea that forges new pathways to carbon neutrality.
About the Program
The City of Flagstaff Economic Development Offices have partnered with the Sustainability Office and our non-profit economic development partner Moonshot@NACET to build resilience and autonomy into the local economy. The challenge provides a $30,000 incentive to develop the winning business that achieves public goals while developing jobs.
Moonshot@NACET is the service provider at the business incubator and business accelerator campus known as the Northern Arizona Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, or NACET (pronounced nay-set). Moonshot is prepared to lead entrepreneurs through the process of developing their idea into a revenue-generating business or scaling an existing business. Through the partnership with Moonshot@NACET, the City of Flagstaff leverages Moonshot@NACET’s local expertise and business coaching knowledge to work with entrepreneurs of all experience level.
The challenge is a business competition that delivers free-market solutions that improve the environment. Pitches will be scored on assessments of your business, waste optimization and carbon neutrality elements. The following information breaks down each element to describe what is scored and important considerations as you develop your concept.
The challenge’s business assessment is comprised of five sub-categories, which are the following, including the meaning of each as it relates to this competition:
- Money/Reserves/Capital/Fuel: Any start-up needs money. This section assesses the finances and financial scalability of your growth plan. Judges will ask themselves if your numbers add up, if the business reasoning is sound, the nature of the investment structure, how much equity is created and how much skin you have in the game.
- Consumer Demand: Are consumers, people who are as different as you and me, hungry for your product or service? This section assesses the viability of the business concept in answering the question, “Why does this business work now, or does it need market demand, affordability, technologies or economies that do not exist here now?”
- Talent/Structure: Businesses are comprised of people, teams and leaders. This section assesses the leadership team, qualifications and organizational structure. What is the experience of the leadership individuals and team? What demonstrated skills contribute to achieving business goals? Can the structure withstand change, challenge and direct hits? Do you want to be on this team?
- Head and Heart or Yea or Nay: The gut and the heart have a presence and a role in decision making and often provide a sense of optimism or pessimism, an idea of go or no-go. This section is an assessment of strengths and weaknesses of the leadership team, organizational structure and business plan overall. The point-blank question is this: Would you invest your own money into this or not?
- Workforce: Business needs people. This section assesses how many jobs will be created year over year. This also includes the ways that your business incorporates training, internships and workforce development into your workforce pipeline.
The waste and carbon neutrality assessment section is also comprised of four other sub-categories:
Waste and Materials Management: This section assesses the waste and material management strategies of the business by allowing you to choose between two options to highlight your operations. You may focus on diverting material from the landfill or you may choose to demonstrate how your processes rate against the waste hierarchy (displayed here).
Energy and Water: How much of everything matters. This section assesses reduction strategies for water and energy use and vehicle miles traveled, as well as the amount of clean energy produced. Using less energy and water, reducing vehicle miles or producing clean energy will get you a higher score in this category.
Carbon Removal: The City of Flagstaff is seeking to catalyze regional carbon dioxide removal, and sequestration. This section assesses the amount of carbon that your processes remove from the atmosphere. You have the option to demonstrate how your process will remove legacy carbon from the atmosphere or write a narrative about how your process fits within the Oxford Offsetting Principles Taxonomy of Carbon Offsets.
Resilience: Resilience is defined as the capacity of a community, business or natural environment to prevent, withstand, respond to and recover from a disruption. This section assesses the ways that your business supports community resilience – how your business will help the Flagstaff community increase its ability to withstand and respond to climate change impacts. Building community capacity, creating closed-loop networks, involving community members and helping Flagstaff residents adapt to the future will lead to higher scores in this category.
This competition will take some thought and creativity. The Flagstaff City Council supported this effort by funding it through the Economic Development and Sustainability Offices. The winning businesses will be the ones that combine the elements of a viable and marketable business concept with the values of environmental stewardship. This pairing is perfect for Flagstaff, perfect for the planet and perfect for you.
If you have an idea (as you know you do), please go to https://www.moonshotaz.com/innovate-waste-challenge-2023.html for more information. Consider speaking with the Moonshot@NACET Team to discuss your idea and then consider attending their series of monthly workshops which are geared to help you gain the understanding that you need to participate and to successfully Innovate Waste: The Carbon Neutrality Challenge. This event will occur on the weekend of May 5 and 6. You still have plenty of time to get after it. Let 2023 be the year that you start a business that saves the world! FBN
By John Saltonstall
John Saltonstall is the business retention and expansion manager for the City of Flagstaff.